The present invention relates to devices for tethering watercraft, boats in particular, to docks. Currently, the most common way for a boat to be secured to a dock is to wrap a rope from a boat around a cleat fastened to the dock surface. A cleat is a device bolted to the surface of the dock and has two prongs extending laterally from opposing sides of the base. A rope may be looped in a figure eight pattern or lashed in some other manner around the two opposing prongs.
There are several shortcomings in the use of cleats. Primarily the cleats together with a mass of rope used to tether the boat are a tripping hazard to those walking on the dock. This is ironic in view of the care generally taken on boats to eliminate tripping hazards. Also, the boat is only as secure as the extent to which the cleat is bolted to the dock. As docks weather, the security of the cleat's moorings becomes an insidious issue because the cleat looks secure but the wood holding it may have rotted. Finally, there is typically excess rope that is often casually coiled around the cleat. Thus there remains a need for a better way to tether a boat to a dock.